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Comments
Never cared for keyword density either...
good examples of missing the forest for the trees
Good post, love the title. I never bought into the keyword density argument myself. Write what makes sense to the user. It just boils down to common sense SEO.
I disagree with much of what Dan writes up there. Google is not static, and there is often a ton to be gained with crafted keyword content. I agree that "keyword density" isnt the metric, but that was such an easy target. The problem I have is with the writing... it technically says one thing (black box kw density measuring systems are not perfect), but creates an impression (keyword content is of lower importance than links, write for humans not search engines) that I think is equally invalid. It is sooooo easy to scientifically debunk just about anything, but does that add value to the discussion? Academics have built an industry around that process. Its very inefficient... who wants to argue the fine details that technically make it right or wrong? Only other academics.
John, are you saying that we should write for search engines instead of people?